"Li Yi, you were in great danger just now, do you know that? With just one glance at that mural, you froze, just like everyone else, falling into a deep illusion. The flesh on your body was disappearing rapidly. If you hadn’t suddenly co to your senses, you would have died,"
Zhang Lei said gravely at this mont, "And like you, there are four others who have died here, one of whom was an external combatant from the inspiration realm."
Li Yi, who had by then regained his senses, showed an unsettled look as he spoke, "Just now, I saw the skeleton in the mural co to life, turning into a beautiful woman who was tempting , like the spirits and ghouls of legends. I almost lost control."
"You’re not the only one who’s had a similar experience, I have too."
Suddenly, another skeleton beside them began to speak, "My fate isn’t much better than yours. With one look, I fell in. Here, only Squad Leader Zhang Lei and a Daoist priest from Sanqing Mountain have managed to resist such temptations with their willpower and break free from the illusion of lust."
Li Yi looked at him, hesitating to ask, "You are?"
"My na is Zhang Zhixiong, also an investigator. Wang Jian should know ," the skeleton said. "You guys were really careless, charging in here knowing it was dangerous. You should have investigated more thoroughly. Now look, you’re trapped here with us."
"Zhang Lei, I think the best way to get out of here is for the people outside to destroy the Skull Mural, which is the source that trapped us in the illusion. Only by destroying it can our consciousness break free from here and awaken in reality," Zhang Zhixiong said seriously afterward.
"This mural carries a mysterious power, likely a Mysterious Object, and it’s very difficult to destroy. If we use a large amount of explosives, our bodies outside the illusion would be damaged. Even if our consciousness returns, we might still be finished," Zhang Lei said somberly. "So your suggestion isn’t very good."
"If we can pinpoint the location, we could use a sniper rifle to shatter the mural from a distance, and then the problem could be safely resolved."
Suddenly, a figure in a Daoist robe walked over. His condition was a bit better than Zhang Lei’s; he still had a lot of flesh on his body, and his face looked normal.
But his appearance was quite unique— he was a blond, blue-eyed foreigner.
A foreign Daoist?
Li Yi couldn’t help but take a few more glances.
"Master Pete makes sense, but right now, we have no way to inform our teammates outside. That’s another problem," soone nodded in agreent, yet they faced another issue.
"But if we could find a way to escape the illusion, then we wouldn’t need to destroy the mural," Zhang Zhixiong shook his head.
The situation once again reached a deadlock.
"I have a question," Li Yi, who had been observing all along, said at this mont. "I want to know, why does everyone who enters here look like a skeleton, and why does everyone’s flesh disappear at different rates? So still look human, but so have completely turned into skeletons?"
Zhang Lei, the squad leader, replied, "That was sothing Master Pete was the first to discover. He concluded that the faster a person’s fear of death, the faster their flesh disappears. If one can stabilize their mind and sit still, then the flesh disappears very slowly."
"It’s precisely because we knew this that we’ve been able to hold out here for so long. Yet even so, the terror between life and death is not sothing everyone can overco. We’ve still lost teammates to the illusion."
As he spoke, Zhang Lei’s expression darkened, mixed with anger.
A group of flesh-and-blood investigators with a sense of responsibility, foolishly caught up in such a ghastly place, suffering successive losses, is sothing he couldn’t tolerate.
Even in death, battling criminals, fighting Fierce Beasts, that would be a more honorable way to die.
What sort of death was this?
Did they scare themselves to death? Or did they carelessly fall into a pit, into an illusory world, and dig their own graves?
If such reasons were written in a death report, wouldn’t it be ridiculed?
"So that’s how it is."
Only then did Li Yi understand why his flesh disintegrated quickly at first, but slowed down upon arriving here. It was because he saw Zhang Lei and Zhang Zhixiong, which lessened the fear in his heart.
But even so, how long could he maintain this state?
Thus, pessimistic thoughts once again enveloped everyone, and they all fell silent.
It was not that they were willing to sit idly by and wait for death, but they had tried all the thods they could think of and could find no point of breakthrough.
Li Yi, newly arrived and unwilling to give up, found a corner to sit and think, while also observing the mural, trying to find so flaws. However, having learned his lesson, he dared not look directly at the skulls on the mural.
It seed that as long as he didn’t look directly, the state of being controlled by the illusion wouldn’t occur.
"Not bad."
Suddenly, that disappearing voice rose again in Li Yi’s mind.
"Hmm?" Li Yi’s expression shifted slightly, "Is it you?"
The remnant thought within the Incomplete Coin had erged once again.
"What’s not bad?" Li Yi pressed on with his questions.
"The curse on you is quite excellent. Although it has affected your mind, it has also brought benefits. Not even an illusion capable of shifting between reality and fantasy can take you away. Indeed, you are worthy of being an inherently evil Earth Prisoner," the voice conveyed a hint of admiration, but this admiration felt oddly unsettling.
Li Yi said, "Your mind is the one with issues, and don’t keep calling inherently evil. The Bone Mural here is much more evil than , intending to trap so many people here to die. If you have any good ideas, speak up now. If it’s too late, everyone will be dead."
"See, you’re getting anxious again," the voice remarked.
"It’s a matter of life and death. How can I not be anxious?" Li Yi replied.
The voice continued, "Actually, escaping this illusion is quite simple. It’s about working from within, relying on oneself to pass the trials of the illusion, and thereby compelling the illusion to willingly release you."
"Trial? This illusion is a trial? Since when are trials like this, causing death at the slightest provocation?" Li Yi exclaid in shock.
"Indeed, this is a form of trial," the voice revealed an insight and said languidly, "Have you ever heard of the White Bone Temple?"
The White Bone Temple?
Li Yi imdiately shook his head and said, "I’ve never heard of it. What is the White Bone Temple?"
"Stripped of flesh, humans are but two hundred and six bones; clothed, they take on eighteen thousand forms," the voice recited this phrase.
Upon hearing this, Li Yi’s spirit was invigorated, "You’re right, I was just fooled by that sinister mural. That skeleton was indeed wearing a transparent gown, before transforming into a seductive beauty that lured in, causing to sink into it and unable to extricate myself. Later, the beauty suddenly changed back into a skeleton, which gave quite a scare."
"Hehe, that is the White Bone Temple Practice. To face a beauty as if she were bones would rid you of desire, to see the bones as if they were a beauty would rid you of fear. Without fear or desire, the illusion can be broken," the voice explained.
"To see a beauty as bones, and bones as a beauty?"
Li Yi furrowed his brows, "That’s simply impossible. How can I see a beauty approaching as just bones? I’m no highly enlightened monk with such wisdom and discipline. This thod is too difficult, it’s not feasible. Do you have any other thods?"
He attempted to recall the events that had transpired in his mind, but imdiately stopped himself.
That sort of temptation, how could he, a young man, resist it?
If it happened again, his bones would harden once more.
The voice fell silent for a mont before speaking again, "There’s a clever thod to break the illusion of the White Bone Temple."
"What thod?" Li Yi asked once again.
"The Bone-to-at Technique."
The voice calmly stated, "You and the bones in the mural sit facing each other, both forming a Treasure Seal with your hands. It envisions flesh arising from your bones, while you envision flesh covering its bones. Through a reciprocal process, the true self will appear. Once the true self erges, the illusion can be broken."
"I understand a bit, but not much. I’m not well-educated, so could you simplify that?" Li Yi scratched his head.
"..."
"Put in terms you can understand, it ans to enter a ti of fantasy. It imagines you as a skeleton lost to carnal desires, and you imagine it taking on your own fleshy form. Surely, you wouldn’t harbor desires for yourself, right?" after finishing, the voice added, "Truly a foolish beast; aside from being inherently evil, you have no redeeming qualities."
"Enter a ti of fantasy? I’m good at that; I understand," Li Yi grasped the concept imdiately.
He couldn’t stand those fancy words that were so confusing. Why beat around the bush when you could just say it directly?
Right then, Li Yi stood up and walked towards the wall with the Bone Mural relief.
He didn’t think the remnant thought in the Coin would deceive him at this point. If it wanted him dead, it wouldn’t have to go through such trouble; it could’ve just stayed silent. Hence, he believed this thod had so credibility.
"Li Yi, what are you doing now? Want to et the beauty again? Co back, don’t be stupid."
Seeing Li Yi suddenly approaching the mural, Zhang Zhixiong, the investigator, imdiately rebuked him.
He thought that Li Yi was weak-willed, had given in to despair, and wanted to die painlessly in that gentle land.
It wasn’t as if no teammate had entertained such a thought before.
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